Julie McLaughlin
Alberta institution CKUA turns 80
The partying may be over but CKUA has no plans to call it a day. Months prior to its 80th anniversary on November 21 the radio network began province wide celebrations culminating last week with re-enactments of some of its oldest music and drama programs broadcast live from the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton where it all began.
"We’ve had a lot to celebrate" says general manager Ken Regan. "The fact that CKUA happened at all is a minor miracle." The miracle began in 1927 when H.P. Brown of the university’s extension department secured a $700 provincial government grant ostensibly to hire an assistant but instead built a radio transmitter and put educational programs on the air.
"People in remote areas often couldn’t afford an education or couldn’t leave the farm" says Regan. "He took education to them. Educational radio in Canada was invented by CKUA." CKUA also was the country’s first public broadcaster predating the CBC by nearly five years. Now a professionally operated community radio station with more than two-thirds of its budget coming from listener donations CKUA has many historic highlights. It was the western Canadian link when the BBC made the first ’round-the-world broadcast in 1928 the first station in the Commonwealth to broadcast a live session of the legislative assembly and in 1996 the first station in Canada to stream its broadcasts on the Internet.
For Regan the greatest highlight is CKUA’s contribution to opening up a universe of artistic talent and culture. “Alberta has a tremendously sophisticated audience” he says “and CKUA has been providing that cultural connection. It’s one of the reasons why Alberta is known as a cultural place."
He lists Bruce Cockburn Jann Arden k.d. lang David Suzuki Blackie and the Rodeo Kings Tommy Banks and the late Robert Goulet as "some of the people who got a leg up because of CKUA’s recognizing the value of their artistic talent or intellectual property and presenting that to a receptive audience. This in an age when dumbing down is so prevalent — for example Howard Stern is paid half a billion dollars to do what he does. Thank goodness CKUA in a small way can help to counteract some of that."
The programming covers every type of music drawn from its internationally renowned library of more than 1.5 million selections plus educational and informational series.
Jason Valleau of Calgary’s Polyjesters says that while his group’s music doesn’t fall into a specific genre "CKUA doesn’t have to fit music into a rock country or other format. This is especially important now when there is so much crossover among different genres. Not only is CKUA playing the music of independent non-commercial and alternative artists but in conjunction with the Alberta Foundation for the Arts they also have set up and broadcast live performances. CKUA is reminiscent of old-time radio but with a modern edge of what’s new and contemporary." The station also promotes artists both on the air and on its website with its community calendar.
CKUA’s greatest strength has been in staying true to using radio to serve the community Regan says even though from time to time making it more commercial was considered.
The most recent attempt was the 1997 near shutdown of the station due to the Alberta government’s decision to stop funding coupled with poor management and an attempt to privatize. The station was preserved mainly because its loyal listeners demanded it. In the end the government handed over control to a new group from the community who took over from the government-appointed directors.
Regan says the station is looking at a very bright future. “We have great people the benefit of longevity and we are a cultural institution” he says. “We are well loved even by non-listeners who know about us and support what we do."
However the road ahead in the technology-driven broadcasting industry is fraught with enormous challenges for all not-for-profit radio stations. Being able to fund operations is at the top of the list. Instead of looking for a subsidy the not-for-profits are lobbying their regulator the federal government to put a self-sustaining operating fund in place. "That’s the only way we’ll survive over the long term" Regan says.
